They didn't come packaged any sweeter and lovelier than Anne Shirley, a gentle and gracious 1930s teen film actress who didn't quite reach the zenith of front-rank stardom and retired all too soon at age 26. On film as a toddler, she went through a small revolving door of marquee names before legally settling (at age 16) on the name Anne Shirley, the name of her schoolgirl heroine in Anne's most famous film of all -- Anne of Green Gables (1934). Manhattan-born Anne was christened Dawn Evelyeen Paris on April 17, 1918. Her father died while she was still a baby and she and her widowed mother lived a very meager New York existence at first. At the age of 16 months, the child was already contributing to the household finances as a photographer's model, using a sundry of different monikers including Lenn Fondre, Lindley Dawn and Dawn O'Day. With this source of monetary inspiration, her mother sought work for her daughter in films as well, and at the age of 4, Anne (billed as Dawn O'Day) made her first feature with The Hidden Woman (1922).
Movie | The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind | (archive footage) | 1988-10-01 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-19 |
Movie | Man from Frisco | Diana Kennedy | 1944-06-15 |
Movie | Music in Manhattan | Frankie Foster | 1944-10-06 |
Movie | Murder, My Sweet | Ann Grayle | 1944-12-14 |
Movie | The Powers Girl | Ellen Evans | 1943-01-15 |
Movie | Bombardier | Burton Hughes | 1943-05-14 |
Movie | Government Girl | May Harness Blake | 1943-11-05 |
Movie | No Greater Love | Pasha (U.S. Dubbing Voice) | 1943-05-20 |
Movie | Four Jacks and a Jill | Karanina 'Nina' Novak, the Jill | 1942-01-23 |
Movie | The Mayor of 44th Street | Jessey Lee | 1942-10-15 |
Movie | All That Money Can Buy | Mary Stone | 1941-10-17 |
Movie | West Point Widow | Nancy Hull | 1941-06-20 |
Movie | Unexpected Uncle | Kathleen Brown | 1941-11-07 |
Movie | Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2 | 1941-12-05 | |
Movie | Saturday's Children | Bobby Halevy | 1940-05-04 |
Movie | Vigil in the Night | Lucy Lee | 1940-02-05 |
Movie | Anne of Windy Poplars | Anne | 1940-06-28 |
Movie | Boy Slaves | Annie | 1939-02-02 |
Movie | Sorority House | Alice Fisher | 1939-05-05 |
Movie | Career | Sylvia Bartholomew | 1939-07-07 |
Movie | Condemned Women | Millie Anson | 1938-03-18 |
Movie | Law of the Underworld | Annabelle Porter | 1938-05-06 |
Movie | A Man to Remember | Jean Johnson | 1938-10-14 |
Movie | Mother Carey's Chickens | Nancy Carey | 1938-07-29 |
Movie | Girls' School | Natalie Freeman | 1938-09-30 |
Movie | Too Many Wives | Betty Jackson | 1937-04-09 |
Movie | Stella Dallas | Laurel "Lorrie" Dallas | 1937-08-06 |
Movie | Meet the Missus | Louise Foster | 1937-06-04 |
Movie | Chatterbox | Jenny Yates | 1936-01-17 |
Movie | Make Way for a Lady | June Drew | 1936-11-13 |
Movie | M'Liss | M'Liss Smith | 1936-07-27 |
Movie | Chasing Yesterday | Jeanne Alexandre | 1935-05-03 |
Movie | A Night at the Biltmore Bowl | Anne Shirley | 1935-06-21 |
Movie | Steamboat Round the Bend | Fleety Belle | 1935-09-06 |
Movie | School for Girls | Catherine Fogarty (as Dawn O'Day) | 1934-03-22 |
Movie | Finishing School | Billie (as Dawn O'Day) | 1934-05-04 |
Movie | Bachelor Bait | Miriam Johnson (uncredited) | 1934-07-27 |
Movie | Anne of Green Gables | Anne Shirley | 1934-11-23 |
Movie | The Key | Flower peddler | 1934-06-09 |
Movie | The Life of Jimmy Dolan | Mary Lou | 1933-06-03 |
Movie | Young America | Mabel Saunders | 1932-04-17 |
Movie | Emma | Isabelle as a Child (uncredited) | 1932-01-02 |
Movie | So Big! | Young Selina Peake (uncredited) | 1932-04-30 |
Movie | The Purchase Price | Sarah Tipton (uncredited) | 1932-07-23 |
Movie | Rasputin and the Empress | Princess Anastasia (uncredited) | 1932-12-23 |
Movie | Three on a Match | Vivian Revere as a Child | 1932-10-29 |
Movie | Gun Smoke | Horton's Daughter | 1931-04-10 |
Movie | Rich Man's Folly | Anne, as a child | 1931-11-14 |
Movie | City Girl | Marie Tustine | 1930-01-12 |
Movie | Liliom | Louise | 1930-09-27 |
Movie | 4 Devils | Marion as a girl | 1928-10-03 |
Movie | Riders of the Purple Sage | Fay Larkin (uncredited) | 1925-03-15 |
Movie | His Wooden Wedding | 1925-12-19 | |
Movie | The Man Who Fights Alone | Dorothy | 1924-09-15 |
Movie | The Fast Set | Little Margaret Sones | 1924-10-20 |
Movie | The Rustle of Silk | Girl | 1923-05-13 |
Movie | The Spanish Dancer | Don Balthazar Carlos (as Dawn O'Day) | 1923-10-06 |
Movie | Moonshine Valley | Nancy (as Dawn O'Day) | 1922-08-27 |